


i'm always tired (but never of you)

by nakamota



Category: K-pop, NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Drabble, Fluff, M/M, Mentions of Death, No Angst, One Shot, Romance, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Teen Romance, don't ask me how old mark is because i don't know the answer to that, idea from writing.prompt.s on instagram, jaemin is mentioned for like a second, markhyuck, they're teenagers in this time frame though, tiny tiny mentions of markmin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 13:17:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21036851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nakamota/pseuds/nakamota
Summary: mark lee reincarnates every life with the sole purpose of loving lee donghyuck.





	i'm always tired (but never of you)

**Author's Note:**

> title based off [this mix](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdj3YBWza0g)

mark lee was tired of life.

tired of being brought in, tired of going out. tired of looking, searching for everything he held dear to him dozens of times before. what he wasn’t tired of was lee donghyuck, though.

no, lee donghyuck was different. donghyuck was the one thing mark looked forward to after each new life, the one thing that made life a bit easier, each round. if mark didn’t have donghyuck, he swears he would’ve gone insane a long time ago.

donghyuck was different from all the people he had encountered. donghyuck was always the same, every time he would come back. it was like waking up from a coma, whenever mark would stumble upon donghyuck again. a part of mark felt like donghyuck had some sort of intuition about it, greeting him as if he had been by his side for eternity. which was true, except donghyuck obviously didn’t know that. it just felt like he did, to mark.

he would always wear the same smile upon seeing mark for the first of countless times, the same curious glint in his eyes that mark had grown to love. talking to him was easy. it wasn’t like his usual companion jaemin, who in one life could be the sweetest person, and in another be this bitchy, leather-clad stud who liked to break hearts (mark was always able to put jaemin in his place no matter what type of personality he was faced with, each life. every jaemin seemed to share a commonality - a sweet spot for mark. and mark’s favorite jaemin was the flirty, considerate, i’ll make out with you casually as friends if you want, jaemin. but that banter is for another time).

hyuck, as mark was always fond of calling him, never failed to be a sight for sore eyes. he quickly became mark’s home, in the way he handled mark fondly and looked at him like he was the only boy in the world. mark could always count on hyuck to be there for him no matter how shitty or bizarre or great the life he was living would be. hyuck was a constant, and mark always thanked the universe for that.

over the many times mark has lived, each donghyuck had a specific quirk that would be significantly different from the last. there had been multiple fiery hyucks throughout the joseon era, adrenaline junkie hyucks in the 80s, bad boy but secret romanticist hyucks (mark’s personal favorite), but nothing had quite been like the hyuck he had dealt with most recently.

it almost felt like this donghyuck was a mix of passion, romance, rebellion, and sensitivity all in one, a combination of hyucks that mark had interacted with before. this hyuck was blunt, but easily flustered. confident, yet quick to break down. mark didn’t really know what to expect the day he was sitting across from the boy in an old oak tree, eyes glued to a book on the space time continuum as hyuck bore his eyes into mark’s forehead.

“would you die for me?”

it was out of the blue, very fitting for him. mark was used to it by this point; hyuck was 18, mark 19. there were moments when mark knew when to drag out a response, and when to get to the point with donghyuck, and this was a moment where he needed to answer as blatantly as hyuck had proposed the question.

“again?” 

mark didn’t think twice about what he said, and sort of regretted it after it left his mouth. he met eyes with donghyuck, meeting the brown orbs glinting with curiosity, raging with so many questions.

“what do you mean?” was the best hyuck could come up with in retaliation.

mark shrugged and set the book aside, stretching out his legs to tangle them with hyuck’s. “just what i said.”

donghyuck rolled his eyes. “no, you know what i mean. you said again as if you had done it before.”

mark bit back a smile and chuckled softly. the confused creases in donghyuck’s forehead were cute. “i would die for you again, yes, hyuck. i’d do it until the universe decided it was tired of my antics and stopped me from seeing you. i’d die for you again in a heartbeat.”

for once, hyuck was at a loss for words. his gaze faltered off of mark’s and went to watch the leaves falling from the branches and down to the ground below them. he looked back up at mark’s waiting, patient eyes. “you mean it?”

mark laughed this time, the worry and hope swimming through donghyuck’s tone and actions too much for him to regard plainly. that was another thing mark loved about donghyuck, each time - his emotions were so strong that mark could always feel them beating on his chest, emotions begging to be let in, others caressing his cheek and wishing to be held with warmth.

“of course i mean it. i meant it when i took an arrow for you in the joseon era even though you were assigned to keep me safe. i meant it when i pushed you out of the way of an oncoming bus 20 years ago, and got hit instead. i meant it when i jumped in front of you so you wouldn’t get stabbed by the head of the biker gang, just this past life. and if for some reason you were about to die right now, i wouldn’t hesitate to die instead if it meant you’d still be alive, afterwards.” donghyuck was silent. that wasn’t like him. “...hyuck? did i say something wro-”

donghyuck shut him up with his lips (another habit of his). mark sighed contently at the feeling, comparing it to finding the last piece of a complicated puzzle. this part of hyuck was always a constant, every go around. mark never got tired of the feeling of hyuck’s lips on his, the tingles going straight to his scalp, the electricity moving along their bodies with every touch. mark could never grow tired of the way hyuck’s breath would catch in his throat every time he would bite down on the younger boy’s bottom lip, and would always relish in the way hyuck’s body would react to different actions - like how he would arch his back if mark slipped his hands inside his jeans to squeeze his ass or how he’d cave into the touch of mark’s hands under his shirt.

hyuck always kissed mark like his life depended on it, and in some ways it did. from the way he found his way to mark in each life, to the way he strongly felt that the world made mark just for him. the latter was true, truer than true, and donghyuck seemed to know that whenever he was back in mark's arms.

hyuck held mark's face in his hands, and his eyes shone with overwhelming love and affection, so much that he began to cry. mark wiped them from his cheeks. "you know i love you so much the universe decided that once wasn't enough, right?"

mark leaned in and kissed donghyuck again. he rested his forehead against hyuck's and stared into his eyes. "_ i know _," he whispered.

mark didn't come back, the next life. well, not alone, from then on.

**Author's Note:**

> this was something i immediately wanted to write the second i saw the prompt "would you die for me?" "again?" on instagram. while the story that went along with the prompt in the post was quite different from the idea presented in my own version, i still wanted to write it with markhyuck.
> 
> i almost didn't include the very last sentence of this drabble. the "well, not alone, from then on," line. part of me wanted the story to just end with it sounding like mark stopped reincarnating after that life with donghyuck, and leave their relationship open to interpretation - did mark end up with one of the donghyucks in some other reality where he didn't have to redo life all over again, or was there no longer a mark to keep the next generations of donghyucks company? if you want, think about the ending like that, and tell me what you think of it ;)
> 
> anyway, thank you for reading! i hope you enjoyed <3
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/ctrlnana)  
[cc](https://curiouscat.me/Ieemarks)


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